


some theistic tendencies

by sierra_roe



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Backstory, Cults, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sierra_roe/pseuds/sierra_roe
Summary: gilfoyle's got some good reasons for not talking about his past, and it’s not just because he’s an illegal canadian immigrant.a brief timeline of gilfoyle's life, from high school up until pied piper.
Relationships: Bertram Gilfoyle/Tara (Silicon Valley), Dinesh Chugtai/Bertram Gilfoyle
Kudos: 22





	some theistic tendencies

it’s 1999. he’s in high school, but only technically, because high school is actually home school with the rest of the kids in the religious commune that his parents raised him in. all the men have long hair and the women dress in traditional modest dresses, and they all follow a strict version of christianity mandated by the commune’s group of elders, and generally avoid devilish modern technology like video games and contact lenses. gilfoyle stopped buying into it at around 11 years old, but he’s learned that the easiest way to get by is to go along with it, and to save up the money that he can from working in the community’s shoe store in town. the whole commune has stocked up for y2k, bunker, canned foods, generators, and all, and on new year’s, everyone gathers to pray and wait for the apocalypse that’s surely coming when the world’s computers all crash at once. gilfoyle has a good laugh to himself when nothing happens. he spends most of his spare time in his room, reading: sci fi and sartre and nietzche and dawkins. he hates it in the commune, and he counts down the days until he can leave for college. using the computer at the public library in town, he applies for scholarships at all the best universities in canada, and as soon as he turns 18, he cuts his hair and never looks back. 

it’s 2002. he arrives at mcgill university and his roommate introduces him to things called newgrounds and something awful and bittorrent. college is a revelation. finally no one is looking over his shoulder and telling him who he should be or what he should believe. he gets a work study job at the computer lab. he doesn’t know much about computers but he’s always been good at figuring things out on the fly and the job is mostly reminding people how to reset their passwords and fixing paper jams. he saves up money and buys himself his first laptop at best buy, and manages to get himself a geek squad summer job there while he’s at it. 

it’s 2003. he switches his major from philosophy to computer science. he realizes he hates how he looks with short hair and starts growing it out again, maybe partially because he wants to fit in at the metal shows he’s started going to. he immerses himself in metal culture and internet culture and makes a point to avoid talking about his weird childhood. it works pretty well. if you just don’t say anything, people don’t try to dig too deep. and if he misses a few pop culture references now and then, well, he’s gotten good at coming up with deadpan snappy retorts to cover for it. 

it’s 2004. a website called thefacebook.com becomes the thing the whole campus is obsessed with. he’s pretty sure moving into cs was the right call. he has a brief relationship with a girl he meets in the metal scene, and finally manages to lose the virginity that’s been haunting him by sticking around through the late age of 20. 

it’s 2006. he graduates and moves into a room in a crowded punk house just off campus. although he is by nature a solitary creature, living in a crowded place still feels natural, and there’s always someone around to play video games with. his part time geek squad job turns full time and while it’s not very satisfying at least it’s stable. 

it’s 2007. he cycles through several short-lived relationships before deciding that monogamy isn’t for him. adrift, he finds himself returning to reading philosophy, and from there, to the works of anton lavey and alister crowley. he goes to a laveyan satanist meeting as a joke but then realizes he actually likes it enough to keep going. maybe there was something about the ritual of church that he missed after all. 

it’s 2008. the recession hits and he loses his job, but fortunately he’s picked up enough black hat skills to figure out a few lucrative scams on the side.

It’s 2009. he builds a bitcoin mining rig. a couple smart trades net him enough to not have to really worry too much about a day job for the time being, not so much that he’ll never have to work, but just enough so he can keep hacking on things that interest him.

it’s 2010. he fully embraces non monogamy and pansexuality and kink and vows to never go back to normie relationships again. if there's any parallel between the way he rejects societal conventions and the way his parents had rejected the modern world, he avoids thinking about it. 

it’s 2012. he meets tara on okcupid. she’s technically in montreal illegally, as an american who came there for college and just never left. uncharacteristically for gilfoyle, he falls hard and fast for this poly girl who’s hot, smart, and owns a snake. unlike most people, she has a high tolerance for putting up with him, and loves fucking with people just as much as he does. the two impulsively decide move to toronto. they haven’t even finished apartment hunting when tara makes a careless mistake when she’s shoplifting and is swiftly deported back to boston. distraught and unsure of how to deal with his emotions, gilfoyle goes on a drive without any destination in mind and ends up near the border. when the engine on his 20 year old volvo starts sputtering he despondently gets out and keeps walking. at a certain point, he walks right over the border. it’s not totally on purpose, but it’s not not on purpose and really he just wants to see what will happen, so he keeps walking, and somehow that’s it, he lives in the states now. he and tara reunite for a bit, but the stress of her court case gets to both of them and they decide to split with the plan to pick things back up again when the time is right. 

it’s 2013. he gets a lead on a system architect job at a bitcoin startup in the bay area and figures he might as well treat himself to some nicer weather for once in his life. plus, they pay in bitcoin and don’t seem to be too concerned about formalities like work visas or W2s. things are going splendidly until the idiot CTO hires a new developer who’s probably the most annoying person that gilfoyle has met in his entire life, not in the least because when they have to pair program together they find out that they make an excellent team, despite how much gilfoyle wants to murder the new guy every time he opens his mouth. gilfoyle almost wants to quit over it, but for one, he hates admitting defeat, and for two, he doubts his next job will have an employee who’s as as enjoyable to fuck with as dinesh is. it doesn’t hurt that dinesh is the only person other than tara who somehow seems to enjoy putting up with gilfoyle. 

it’s 2014. when the startup folds in the midst of a tax evasion investigation, dinesh tells him about an incubator with cheap rent in exchange for equity in whatever business idea you’re working on. seeing as statistically, most businesses fail, gilfoyle recognizes an opportunity for a good housing scam when he sees it, and pitches a bullshit app concept convincingly enough to win over the red-haired buffoon running the incubator. dinesh goes in with what he believes to be an actual app idea, which probably helps in convincing erlich. it’s clear to gilfoyle that dinesh’s idea is steaming pile of shit, a fact that he brings up often enough that he’s eventually able to grind down dinesh’s will to continue. dinesh starts pretending that he was only in it to scam erlich all along. all they need to do now is appear to be working on their apps and they can coast and do odd freelance jobs until something more interesting comes along. and something does come along, when the second (or possibly third) most annoying incubator resident manages to attract the interest of several investors, and suddenly gilfoyle and dinesh are back in business together, and fast enough that they didn’t even have to pretend to be too disappointed about stopping work on their fake apps. when no one’s paying attention, they have a quiet toast for the demise of their apps. “too good for this world.” gilfoyle says. “too good to ever exist” dinesh agrees, and they drink their beers by the pool. 

**Author's Note:**

> i got the idea that maybe gilfoyle had a childhood that was almost as dark as jared's, but he deals with it by just never talking to anyone about it. sometimes when people are raised in a conservative environment, they pivot hard in the opposite direction, and i could kind of see that happening with gilfoyle. what do you think? also accepting alternate opinions about which parts of the internet gilfoyle hung out on in 2002.


End file.
